


something more

by galpalaven



Series: Buzzfeed Unsolved AU [1]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Best Friends to Lovers, Domestic Fluff, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Nox and Julian host Buzzfeed Unsolved and its Good, Pre-Relationship, Requited Love, buzzfeed unsolved au, im uploading this at like 2 pm on easter sunday which is a terrible idea but its too late now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 17:44:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14170176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galpalaven/pseuds/galpalaven
Summary: Nox and Julian finally (finally) stop kidding themselves.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate Summary: This case is officially— _solved_.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please look at this [fake screenshot](http://wardenchampion.tumblr.com/post/172600990575/au-where-julian-and-nox-host-buzzfeedunsolved-for) my friend drew for me because it's Perfect.

Nox hasn’t been this drunk in—a _while_ , she’d say. The world is a little fuzzier (a little warmer, a little less painful) than it had been when they’d gone to the pub, having figured that they ought to spend their last night in Ireland enjoying the local charm. Julian is a heavy, warm weight against her side, handsy and humming to himself, liquor on his breath just as sharp as her own as they meander down the hotel hallway. She fumbles with her wallet when they get to their door, and her colleague laughs to himself as he slips around her to lean against the door, sliding down a little as he grasps at her hips and pulls her closer, cheeks red from booze and laughter, one thick eyebrow raised as he smirks at her.

“Need some help there, Pendragon?”

Her heart has already spent almost the entire evening in her throat, but it leaps again at his closeness, eyes drawn unwittingly to his mouth as he bites at his lip. Fortunately, she finally gets a grasp on the keycard, and she holds it up between them smugly, winking and watching the flush on his cheeks deepen a little, expression falling as something like contemplation (mixed with a little bit of hope) enters his eyes.

“No thanks,” she breathes. “But I will need you to move so I can open the door.”

He sighs, sounding a little disappointed, but he’s still smiling as he pushes off the door—but he doesn’t go far, one large, familiar hand settling on her lower back and sending a jolt of excitement up her spine. As she pushes the door open, her delirious mind provides her with the thought of what might happen if she were braver, if she shoved Julian up against the wall and kissed him like she’s been wanting to for so _long_ now. Maybe he’d groan, or maybe he’d hiss, definitely kissing her back immediately because she’s almost entirely sure by now that he feels it, too.

The door falls shut behind them and she does nothing but continue through the dark, feeling her way over to the lamps in between the two beds. The light comes on and, as her head is still dancing around scenarios that could have happened ( _Julian’s hot breath against her ear as he presses himself up against her back, pressing her up against the wall, hands dangerously low on her hips, possessive and unapologetic—_ ), Julian throws himself face first into the pillows, sighing heavily. 

The next few minutes are a blur as she struggles to find some pajamas and put them on, and when she manages to make her way back into the bedroom, Julian has kicked off his shoes and tossed his shirt, coat, and belt onto the floor. He’s laying face down, both arms crossed under his pillow, and she smiles a little at his freckled shoulders as she sits on the edge of the other bed.

He must hear the springs creak, because he opens his eyes and frowns at her.

“Not going to help me keep the nightmares away tonight, my dear?”

…Damn it.

Nox laughs quietly, unable to argue when he’s smiling at her like that, and crosses the space between them without another thought, sliding under the covers as he laughs, voice low and rumbling. He turns to face her on his side as she reaches over and turns the light off, and she starts a little when his hand settles over her waist through the blanket. Normally, she’d—well, normally neither of them are brave enough for this, but tonight is different. She lets her hand trail up his forearm as she turns towards him, sliding a little closer as her eyes slowly adjust to the darkness.

His hair has fallen into his eyes and, a little bewitched, she reaches up to brush it away, tucking it behind his ear, fingers lingering against his skin before she drops her hand to the mattress between them. His eyes catalogue her features in the dark, and she can’t be sure, but she thinks maybe he lingers on her mouth once or twice.

“…We shouldn’t have gotten drunk,” she breathes after a moment.

He smiles a little, confused. “Why not?”

“Because you’re driving me crazy, and if I make a move now it’s taking advantage,” she mumbles, the darkness and the alcohol still pumping through her veins making her brave.

Julian shakes his head a little, licks his lips, and asks, “What if I _want_ you to do it?”

Nox groans, cheeks burning as she covers her face with her hand, peeking through her fingers and trying to ignore the feeling of Julian’s hand on her hip, his thumb stroking back and forth softly. “If you want me to do it, you’re gonna have to bring this up when we’re not both inebriated,” she sighs, and he shuffles closer under the blankets, tangling one of his legs through hers, sliding his hand farther up her back to pull her closer. The tip of his nose brushes hers, and she’s almost going cross-eyed to keep meeting his gaze when he tilts his head to kiss her softly on the cheek. 

Hesitating, lips against her skin, he asks, “Are you… _sure_ you want to wait?”

She slides her hand up into the thick hair at the back of his head as she turns towards him, heart racing as their lips brush. She feels him open his mouth, and they’re so close that she can taste the whiskey on his breath and _oh_ , it would take so little to just give in, to let him press her to the mattress and kiss her breathless, let him touch her with those long beautiful fingers. So easy when she wants him so much. He’s just moved to surge down and close the gap, both of them hungry and impatient, when she tightens her grip on his hair and bites at her lower lip.

“I want our first kiss to be better than this, Ilya,” she confesses breathlessly into his mouth.

“I’m a rather good drunk kisser, I assure you,” he laughs, but he’s withdrawing anyway, always a gentleman.

He settles back against his pillow with a quiet sigh, still so very close with her hand still in his hair. After a moment, he uses his free hand to pull her hand away and he turns his head to press a fervent kiss to her palm. He keeps his grip on her hand as he lets her hand drop, stroking his thumb across the backs of her knuckles.

“Tomorrow,” he says simply, squeezing her fingers.

Smiling, she closes the space between them, pressing her forehead to his. “I’ve been wanting this for a while. Definitely tomorrow.”

He beams, and her stomach flips. “That’s—I, ahhh—Goodnight.”

She tilts her head to peck him on the tip of his nose. “Goodnight, dork.”

They share one more slightly delirious giggle, before falling quiet, curled around each other on purpose for once…

 

* * *

 

When Nox wakes up, it is to both a _massive_ headache and the sound of a camera shutter going off. Her brows furrow, and the warm pillow she’s curled around starts to move in her arms and—

“Rise and shine, lovebirds!”

She opens her eyes and looks directly at Julian, watches the rising panic in his eyes as they both suddenly realize… that they aren’t on this trip alone, and they _weren’t_ roommates this time. They’d just been so drunk and wrapped up in each other that they forgot to go to separate rooms. They start scrambling to untangle at the same time, but it’s too late. Adore (and Muriel, apparently) has seen everything. And taken pictures.

“Oh my _god_ —”

“ _Fuck_ —”

“ _Ilya!_ ” 

She’s half laughing now, more a defense mechanism than genuine mirth, as Julian struggles to pull the blankets farther up around his extremely red head-and-neck-area, burrowing as far as he can into the bed and going still. She props herself up on her elbows, face burning, and looks up at her two smug friends from where they stand beside the bed. 

“Good morning, Adore. Muriel.”

Adore’s grin somehow widens, and she crosses her arms as she says, “Mornin’. You sleep alright? Looks like you two had more fun than we did after you ditched us.”

Nox sits up fully then, bringing her knees up to brace her elbows on them, rubbing at her face and taking a deep, calming breath. She considers fighting it, denying it, arguing, but instead, she just drops her hands again and says, “Please, don’t post that picture anywhere.”

The answering laughter makes her headache spike sharply, and by her side, Julian makes a pathetic, whimpering noise into the pillows, even as Adore winks and agrees, “Course not. You just owe me now.”

“Of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an AU that largely exists in messages with some of my friends on tumblr, but the gist is that The Arcana cast works for Buzzfeed now (except Portia, who runs a very popular podcast). Magic still exists, Nox and Julian are highly successful and best friends, Asra and Julian never dated because I Don't Like That. Asra and Adore (the other apprentice mentioned) run the Worth It series, Muriel is Nox and Julian's extra camera guy. Adore came with them to Ireland because she Is Irish and refused to let them go without her.
> 
> A Choice post from my [tumblr](http://www.galpalaven.tumblr.com/post/171578732513/buzzfeed-unsolved-au-nox-and-julian-have-to-bring) about this:
>
>> Buzzfeed Unsolved AU Nox and Julian have to bring in special guests for the Bigfoot episode because neither of them are all that convinced and Lucio is the most interesting person they can find for the job.
>> 
>> He does the mating call and, after Nox and Julian stop giggling, Nox just, “Hey, what are you gonna do if Bigfoot, like, comes barreling out of the trees full tilt with a raging boner? What happens then?”
>> 
>> And Lucio’s response is, “What the fuck do you think the point of finding Bigfoot is?”
>> 
>> Julian absolutely loses it, probably effectively scaring off any animals in a 100 foot radius with his howling laughter. Nox is chuckling but also nodding because she guesses that’s fair.


	2. Chapter 2

The trip back to the States takes almost a full 24 hours from the moment they check out of the hotel to the moment they touch down in Los Angeles. Nox can’t remember all that much of what happened, hungover and exhausted as she was after the night they’d had the day before combined with the dredge of just sitting around most of the day.

She and Julian had yet to talk about—what they’d talked about the other night. They’d had no time alone for it in the first place, but she thinks maybe they both think that discussion should be had somewhere more private than an empty hallway in an airport. Adore and Muriel hadn’t picked on them much once they all got on their way, but she could still feel her friend’s eyes on her every time she tried to catch a little more sleep on Julian’s shoulder while they waited, every time she shifted a little closer to him to try and get comfortable on the chairs.

She could also feel the smug aura of _I told you so_ radiating off of her in waves every time she slid her hand into Julian’s, threading her fingers through his, but Nox couldn’t quite bring herself to care, drifting between sleep and wakefulness with the sound of his breathing and the softness of his jacket and the smell of his cologne. His skin was pleasantly cool against hers, a welcome difference compared to the near fever pitch her skin usually was. He drew circles into the back of her hand with his thumb every so often almost absentmindedly, tracing figures around her knuckles, answering emails on his phone to pass the time, and the hours dragged on.

Nox wondered what kind of sight they made to onlookers—how many years married they must look, huddled together on the uncomfortable seats in the airport, murmuring to each other in hushed voices, heads bent close. As the day went on, she cared less and less what everyone else thought, whether anyone recognized them or not. She doesn’t catch any onlookers sneaking snapshots as far as she can tell (aside from Adore taking blackmail shots), though she spends most of her time desperately trying to sleep. Their connection in New York gets delayed by four hours, and her nerves are stretched so tight by the time they finally get on their next flight that she’s another hour and a half delay from climbing into Julian’s lap and trying to sleep like that.

It’s 2 am when they land at LAX, and they all stumble off the plane looking every bit as dead tired as they feel. Julian’s slouching, dragging his feet and yawning widely as he trails after Muriel leading the way to baggage claim. He hooks his thumbs into his backpack straps as they walk, trying to hang back so that the girls don’t fall too far behind. Nox can’t remember at what point on the flight he gave her his coat, but she realizes that she’s wearing it when the sleeves cover her hands entirely as she rubs at her face. Adore has one arm slung around her shoulders, both of them struggling to walk straight _and_ keep up with their giant friends. 

Muriel is the only one of their group that doesn’t look like the walking dead, Nox realizes, as he carries one of Adore’s bags for her as Nox continues to half carry her down the terminal. His hair is pulled back in its normal messy bun, the normal amount of disheveled, and the only evidence that he has, in fact, been affected at all by their terrible day is the dark five o’clock shadow on his jaw and heavier bags under his eyes. 

Adore looks arguably like she’s been suffering the worst of all of them, if only because of how absolutely miserably disheveled she looks. Her clothes are eschew, and she’s pale with exhaustion as she leans heavily against Nox’s side. Her hair is the messiest part of her, only halfway pulled up into a messy bun that’s been done and redone over and over again throughout the day, getting a little worse every time. 

Nox is suddenly quite glad that she made the decision to chop all her hair off a few years ago, now.

Adore pulls away from Nox’s grip when they finally find the baggage carousel, and Nox drifts back to Julian’s side, yawning and crossing her arms, burying her face in his ribcage and going still as they wait for the conveyor belt to start moving. Julian drops his bag gently to the ground beside him in favor of wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her closer without hesitation.

“You wanna stay the night tonight?” she asks into his shirt after a beat, muffled.

“Mm. You’ve taken enough of my clothes at this point that it wouldn’t be a problem,” he sighs.

She snorts. “Yeah, _and_ you’ll have your suitcase full of clothes with you.” She tilts her head to look up at him, finds him smiling as he watches for their bags. “I think you’ve also got a toothbrush at my place.”

Julian laughs softly, shaking his head. “Why are we basically married?”

“Because we’re perfect together,” she replies airily just as the carousel finally starts moving. He’s grinning as he moves away, and Nox feels her heart flutter a little at the sleepy look of contentment he shoots her way. She winks, and he blushes, ducking his head as he turns away, ears so red they’re almost the same color as his hair.

The next few minutes go by in a blur as everyone gathers their luggage and calls separately for transportation. Nox is about to call her own cab when Julian’s hand on her lower back makes her pause.

“I drove,” he says softly, pulling his keys out of his backpack and jingling them at her. “You can just ride with me.”

She casts a cursory glance at their friends, laughing to each other and not paying attention to them, and leans into his touch discreetly, smiling up at him. “Sounds good.”

“We’ll wait until they leave?”

“To avoid the look Adore will give us if she figures out that we’re going home together?” They both snicker at the thought. “Yeah, we’ll wait.”

It’s half past 3 by the time Adore crawls into her cab, only halfway concerned that their cabs hadn’t shown up yet. They send her on her way with only a little bit of arguing, and when they finally set off in search of the car, Nox is only just barely able to stay on her feet much longer, with Julian not looking that much better. She asks once as they make their way through the lot if he’s alright to drive, but he just smiles and reminds her that he usually functions on about this much sleep most days anyway.

“You’re perfectly safe with me, my dear,” he says dryly, pressing a button on his keys that makes the taillights of his car flash from down the way.

She groans, walking a little faster. Normally, she’d tease him or something, but she can almost taste her own bed and she just can’t care about anything else anymore. He takes her luggage from her without prompting when they reach the car, and she doesn’t care to argue, basically falling into the passenger side seat and sighing with relief. It’s not home, but she rides places with him so often that it’s _familiar_ , and she loves it.

They’ve still got a while to get back to her apartment, so she kicks off her shoes as he climbs into the driver’s side, tucking her legs up on the seat with her.

For a moment, Julian just slides down against the leather, dropping his head back against the headrest and sighing heavily. Propping her head up with her hand, she smiles sleepily at him.

“Ready to go home?” she asks before she can process exactly what she’s saying. Heat creeps up her neck, realizing that she’d just referred to her apartment as _his_ home, but Julian just smiles.

“ _God_ , yes, I can already hear my pillow calling my name,” he laughs, starting the car. “I’m going to sleep for the next three days, by the way. I hope that’s alright with you.”

“Ilya, you can stay with me forever if you want to,” she says with a hum. He doesn’t answer her immediately as they pull out of the garage and onto the street, and she almost panics until she glances over and finds him biting at his lip trying to control the giddy grin on his face.

“Careful, Nox,” he says after a moment of thought. “Give me permission and you might never get rid of me.”

“That’s fine with me. Why would I ever want to get rid of you?”

“You don’t find me annoying?”

Nox tilts her head, meeting his gaze with a little more bravery than she normally has in her tired state, and smiles sweetly. “I don’t think I’ve ever found you annoying, or anything close to it. You’re my best friend.”

His answering smile is soft and warm, and she wonders distantly if it should be even possible for another person’s smile to make her feel like this. It doesn’t seem like it ought to be, doesn’t seem like such a simple gesture should be able to make her whole night like it does, but she’s not about to complain.

Within a few minutes of being on the road, it becomes obvious that Nox is much more tired than she thought she was. She’s warm in Julian’s coat, warm and comfortable and surrounded by _him_ , and it’s becoming harder and harder to keep her eyes open…

...until Julian turns the radio up loud and rolls the windows down about halfway, grinning wildly at her when she raises an eyebrow at him.

“You gotta help keep me awake, Pendragon!”

She shakes her head, laughing. “Is this not enough?”

He doesn’t answer her, instead opting to start singing loudly to the radio, apparently uncaring that it’s 4 in the morning and people are trying to sleep. She watches him for a moment, feeling wonderfully lighthearted as she listens to him sing, carefree and maybe a little slap-happy with exhaustion. It’s a moment that she almost wants a picture of, and she tries to commit it to memory as best she can, because he is so beautiful when he’s happy and for a second she loves him so much she almost can’t breathe.

Julian casts a glance at her when they slow at a stoplight, waggles his eyebrows as he continues to sing and, with a laugh, she joins him at the chorus, dancing a little in her seat.

They continue like that the whole 40 minute drive through the city, song after song that they both know by heart. It’s late, and she’s exhausted, but there’s something in the air, something in the timber of his laughter, and she thinks this might just be the closest she’s ever felt to being young and wild. The cool night air combs chilly fingers through her hair as she pulls Julian’s jacket tighter around her shoulders and, as they finally make it to her apartment complex, a blanket of contentment settles over her.

If she had her way, they’d spend every day like this—just the two of them, together and laughing, feeding off each other’s joy until they occupy cloud nine all on their own.

They’re still giggling when they finally make it to her front door, though Julian stands a little closer than she’s used to, hot breath on her neck making her nearly drop her keys as he hums to himself. This position is familiar, an echo of the other night at the hotel, and she can’t quite help herself as she leans back against him for a beat, eyes slipping shut as his fingers snake around her hips—

—and the keys clatter noisily to the ground, startling them both out of the moment.

They look down at them for a moment, before Julian laughs and murmurs, “Am I distracting you, Nox?” directly into her ear.

She snorts, heart pounding at his closeness, and sighs, “That’s one way of putting it.”

His smile turns into a self-satisfied smirk that makes her roll her eyes even as he bends to retrieve what she’d dropped, dropping onto his knee beside her. He doesn’t stand back up immediately, offering them to her while still kneeling, and her over-tired brain betrays her, bringing a rush of heat to her cheeks as she looks down at him, stunned for a beat too long.

It’s just the position, she thinks as she reaches for her keys with shaking fingers. He’s kneeling beside her and offering her something, smiling up at her sweetly, cheeks flushed probably from their bad singing in the car—but her heart flips anyway, making a connection that it shouldn’t have.

Of course, Julian doesn’t help anything when he catches her hand before she can pull it away and presses a kiss into the back of it, smiling and squeezing her hand before he rises back to his feet.

She forces herself to ignore the smug grin on his face as she finally gets the door unlocked, kicking it open and dragging her bags over the threshold. 

The sheer amount of tension that melts from her muscles in relief as she steps into her kitchen makes her groan, dropping her bags unceremoniously on the linoleum. She has no plans to unpack today, or even tomorrow, she thinks as she wanders towards the bedroom. Julian trails after her after arranging their bags in a little bit less of a messy pile, humming again, obviously in a very good mood.

“I’m assuming you want some of your pajamas back?” she asks as she pulls open a drawer.

Julian laughs and she can hear him flop onto the mattress behind her. 

“Just for now,” he sighs. When she turns to toss him a shirt and a pair of pajama bottoms, she finds him lying back in a casual pose on the bed, eyeing her with something like contemplation until the clothes hit him in the face. 

She shakes her head as he laughs and wanders off in the direction of the bathroom, grabbing for another one of his old shirts and changing into it quickly. She briefly debates not wearing any pajama bottoms, because the shirt comes down to her mid-thigh and this is her bed, dammit—but he still isn’t her boyfriend, and she has to maintain at least a little bit of propriety.

...Right?

She’s slipped on a pair of shorts and wandered back into the kitchen for a glass of water when Julian comes up behind her, unapologetic and shameless as he wraps his arms around her waist from behind and buries his face in her neck, inhaling deeply. 

“Not to be too forward,” he begins, and she rests her hands over his with a laugh as he grins against her neck, “but the way you look in my clothes has been driving me absolutely mad for years now.”

“ _Not to be too forward_ , but that might have been part of the plan,” she replies easily, leaning back into his embrace with a contented sigh.

He groans into the crook of her neck, and the sound sends a rush of heat prickling across her skin as he pulls her closer and she tightens her grip on his hands. Tilting her head towards his, she reaches up to tangle her fingers in his hair.

“What are we waiting for, Nox?” he asks quietly.

Standing in her kitchen, wearing one of his shirts with his arms around her, face buried in her neck, she wonders the same thing.

“...I don’t know.”

They both go still then, and despite the fatigue weighing heavily at her body, she’s more awake than she thinks she’s ever been in her life. Her heart pounds an anxious rhythm in her chest, and Julian is pressed so close that she can feel his heart beating a similar rhythm against her back.

He breaks the silence again after a few moments, voice hoarse. 

“Do you think—can we—can we _stop_ waiting?” She can hear him swallow, and his skin feels a little warmer than usual as he adds, “I want you. _So_ much. I want _this_. More than I’ve ever wanted anything else in my life.”

Nox laughs thickly, emotion tying a knot in her throat as she turns in his arms, unable to stay facing away from him a moment longer. She goes to cup his cheeks, to look him in the eyes and tell him just how _much_ he means to her, how much she cares about him, but he apparently has other plans. Julian cranes his neck down towards her, nuzzling his forehead against hers with a rough exhale, eyes shut tight like he’s expecting to be hurt.

Her mind races through all the things she’s ever wanted to say, running her eyes over his face in the early morning light. There are so many things she wants to tell him, mostly boiling down to, _Good god, Ilya, I’ve been in love with you since the moment we met_ , but when she opens her mouth, that’s not what falls out.

_ “Kiss me.” _

His pretty grey eyes flutter open, surprised, and she smiles up at him, thumbs stroking across his cheeks. 

“I want you, too, Ilya. I’ve _always_ wanted you, _please_ —”

He cuts her off, hands moving from her waist to her cheeks, tilting her head farther back to give him easier access as he brings his mouth to hers. It’s a soft kiss, much softer than she’d expected in their desperation, lingering, slow and easy. He sighs into her mouth as he tilts his head a little, almost nuzzling his lips against hers as he kisses her.

She presses up on her toes after a moment of this, touching his hands on her face as she tries to get him to kiss her deeper, nipping playfully at his lower lip. He laughs in response, ruining whatever slow rhythm they’d set up, and she huffs a frustrated laugh into his mouth as he pulls back a little to look at her.

She isn’t done with him, though, and grabs two fistfuls of his shirt to pull him back down to her, kissing him a little rougher now. “You’re too damn tall, do you know that?” she growls into his mouth as he presses closer still.

His grin is smug as he says, “Maybe you’re just too damn short.”

Nox laughs, shaking her head even as his arms slip around her, holding her close. “Is that really where you want to go with this, Devorak?”

“Mmm.” He hums thoughtfully, tilting his chin to trail kisses down one side of her jaw. “I _think_ I’d rather go lay down and make out with you until we pass out from exhaustion.”

Heat prickles at her skin again as he reaches up to drag his thumb across her lower lip, eyes dark with want as he focuses on her lips. Her mind provides her a flash of a scenario— _Julian’s mouth on hers, kissing her deep and slow, one arm holding his weight while his other hand grasps at her bare thigh, hooking her knee around his hip_ —and she has to shake it away as she breathes, “That sounds like a fantastic idea.”

Julian beams at her, and laughter bubbles up from her chest at the sight, happiness washing over her in waves as they cling to each other and giggle for a minute.

They’re still smiling as they stumble into her bedroom, exchanging kisses between bouts of giddy laughter. The sun is up for good now as Nox shoves Julian down onto the bed, and she sighs as she pulls the blackout curtains closed over her bedroom window, drenching the room in darkness as she climbs into bed beside him. 

It really hits her, the second her bare legs touch the cool sheets and her head hits the pillow, how absolutely exhausted she is. She wants to stay awake, desperately so, to keep kissing him until their lips are swollen and aching, but once she shuts her eyes, she finds that reopening them is almost too much for her.

Julian curls up on his side beside her, leaning over her to kiss her one more time, and they both lose themselves a little in the push-pull of their lips for a few moments—until he breaks away with a frustrated huff, burying his face in his pillow. His arm winds around her waist to pull her closer, and he sighs softly as she reaches up to run her fingers through his hair.

“See you tonight?” he asks, muffled and a little slurred as sleep threatens to overtake him.

She laughs, turning her head so that the tip of her nose brushes against his as she nods. “See you.”

 

“...I just have one more question.”

“Hmm?”

“Are we dating now?”

“Yes, Ilya.”

“Are you sure?”

“Hm. _Yes_ , Ilya.”

“...I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

 

* * *

 

When Nox next becomes aware of her surroundings, she hasn’t moved. Neither of them have, her arm still around his shoulders and his still draped across her waist. The room is still dark, and if it weren’t for the fact that she was feeling less like death warmed over, she’d have thought she hadn’t gotten any sleep at all.

What had woken her up?

“Nox!! _NOX_! Answer me, would you?”

She frowns as her boyfriend shifts in her arms, stirring at the sound as well, thick eyebrows drawing together in his sleep. It’s a familiar voice, she thinks, but her brain is slow to provide a name to go with it.

Before she can put any more thought into it, the bedroom door swings open, warm light from the kitchen flooding in and making Nox flinch at the sudden brightness. Her arm tightens around Julian almost reflexively as she blinks, trying to adjust and make out who the shadow in the doorway was.

“ _There_ you are! I thought you were dead! You weren’t answerin’ your damn—” Adore’s voice cuts off abruptly, and she takes half a step closer, apparently only just now noticing the other body in Nox’s bed. “Wha— _again_?? Really? Are you _tryin_ ’ to kill me?”

“What are you talking about?” Nox groans, rubbing at her eyes. Her brain still isn’t quite turned on yet.

“What am I talkin’ about? You’re really goin’ to say that when you’re in bed with Julian _again_ —for the second time in, like, two days?”

“So what? He’s my boyfriend,” Nox mumbles immediately. “What’s your point?”

Nox doesn’t realize what she’s done for a full five seconds, and when she does, she gasps, sitting up completely to find her friend staring, slack-jawed. Adore’s eyes focus on Nox’s state of dress for half a second, and Nox realizes the second mistake she’s made, because she looks like she’s just wearing Julian’s shirt and nothing else, and the sudden, ear-to-ear grin Adore has can only mean trouble.

“Adore…”

Her friend turns on her heel and bolts back out into the living area, already dialing her phone to probably snitch on them to Portia.

“ _Shit_ ,” Nox hisses, haphazardly untangling herself from the sheets and accidentally elbowing Julian roughly in the gut hard enough that he grunts from the impact. “Sorry,” she gasps, not stopping to make sure he’s alright as she stumbles into the living room.

Adore has taken refuge on the other end of the coffee table, phone held to her ear, and Nox shakes her head, ready to pounce. They stare at each other in dead silence for a hot second, before someone on the other end of the phone answers. Adore’s face brightens, and she gets as far as, “Portia! You are not gonna _believe_ —” before Nox has leaped clear across the table and they fall into a heap on the sofa.

_ “Give me the phone!” _

“Get off!”

“Hang it up and I will!”

_ “Make me!” _

They both pause at that, Nox’s eyebrows shooting towards her hairline as she considers her friend, both of them panting. Nox makes another grab for the phone, quick enough this time to pry it from her friend’s fingers, and somehow manages to twist away enough to hang the call up without Adore managing to grab it back. She drops the phone as gently as she can on the rug and turns her full attention back to Adore, pinning both wrists to the cushions and holding them there.

Smiling, Adore twists her hands in Nox’s grip and says conversationally, “You know, you’re freakishly strong for someone so tiny.”

“...Thanks.”

“Bet Julian likes that.”

Nox rolls her eyes, opening her mouth to respond, only to hesitate when her boyfriend strolls out of the bedroom, holding his own phone up and away from his face. Adore tilts her head back to look at him upside down, and even though his phone isn’t on speaker, they can all quite clearly hear the yelling on the other end.

“ _ILYUSHKA!!! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME YOU AND NOX WERE DATING!! SHE’S ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS AND I’M YOUR SISTER! WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN AND WHY DID I HAVE TO FIND OUT FROM ADORE AND—!”_

She goes on like that for a while, long enough that Nox lets Adore up and Julian has rolled his eyes three separate times before Portia takes enough of a breath for him to get in a response.

“Pasha, I— _Pasha_. Pasha. I didn’t tell you because, technically, it happened—I dunno, a half hour ago? We fell asleep for about twelve hours afterwards.” He pauses as she answers him, rolling his eyes again as he wanders back towards the bedroom. “Oh, that is _not_ what I said or meant and you know it.”

The door closes, and Adore and Nox are left sitting on the couch alone. 

She counts to ten before they both burst into giggles, sinking further into the cushions. Nox tucks her knees up to her chest, stretching her oversized shirt over them to fight out the chill of the air on her bare legs. Resting her cheek on her knees, she looks over at her friend and says, “Thank you for being worried about me.”

Adore laughs. “Thank _you_ for finally gettin’ your head outta the sand and kissin’ the poor man. Much longer and he’d have probably lost it.”

“Much longer and _I’d_ have lost it,” Nox says dryly. Smiling wryly, she nudges Adore’s thigh with her bare foot. “You and Muriel up for a double date anytime soon?”

“I’m _not_ — _We’re_ not—”

Nox dissolves into laughter at the look on Adore’s face, rubbing at her eyes and sighing contentedly. She runs a hand through the mess of hair on her head, working out a few tangles as she goes, and decides to let her off the hook easy.

“I’m kidding,” she assures her. “You wanna stay for dinner? We were probably going to order takeout anyway.”

“Oh, I don’t wanna intrude on _date night_ —”

“I swear to _god_ —”

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't originally going to share this, both because I had some very bad experiences with this fandom a few months ago and because of how niche? This AU is? But I'm proud of this piece so I'm sharing it anyway.
> 
> Fun Fact: Nox and Julian's official ship name is _Nya_ because Nox + Ilya = Nya. 
> 
> Another Fun Fact: Hozier is my voice headcanon for at least Julian's singing voice and you can pry Hozier!Julian from my cold dead hands, because pretty much any song Hozier has ever written _or_ covered is a Julian Mood.
> 
> Adore belongs to my friend [@wardenchampion](http://www.wardenchampion.tumblr.com) and they are both lovely ladies whom I love dearly.
> 
> Come visit me on [tumblr](http://www.galpalaven.tumblr.com/tagged/nox-pendragon)!


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